Once in a while when I eat out at “mixed-rice” stalls (stalls which sell white rice with a mind-boggling choice of side dishes which you can choose and be priced accordingly), I will eat this dish – Ginger Sauced Chicken. Well, I confess that I don’t actually know the real name of this dish but since it is a ginger sauce based dish with chicken, I reckoned it should be called Ginger Sauced Chicken.

After a few tries outside, I attempted this dish and it turned out quite okay. Only thing is I haven’t actually perfected the art of having the chicken nicely fried without having too thick a batter. Whilst the picture above was as a result of what I cooked, I am modifying the recipe a bit into what I think would be better. You can actually fry the chicken pieces beforehand or don’t. It is up to you really. But the highlight is the ginger sauce. Give it a try.

Siew Pak Choy (in Cantonese) is one of my favourite vegetables as it is simple to cook and has the crispy texture I look for in vegetables. It can simply be blanched and flavoured with oyster sauce but I’ve decided to do something extra. In this recipe, I braise some shiitake mushrooms and pour the gravy over the siew pak choy to give it a more “classy” feel to this simple dish. A little bit of effort goes a long way to make a dish look and taste better.

Another simple dish to try out here : Stir Fried Ladies Fingers with Anchovies. Ladies Fingers is also known as Okra whilst locally, anchovies are also known as Ikan Bilis. The anchovies come in many sizes and for this dish, the medium sized ones are chosed wherein the head and bones are removed prior to cooking. The cooking time for this dish depends on your liking really because some like their ladies finger cooked till soft and limp. For me, I prefer it slightly crunchy. Feels healthier as well 🙂

Kolok Mee refers to a dry version of noodles originating from Sarawak (I stand corrected). It is sometimes known as Sarawak Kolo Mee or simply Kolok Mee. It takes a few platefuls of this noodles before it grows on you. Perhaps it has to be due to the fact that it is rather plain looking compared to other more colourful noodle dishes. However, once you grow to like it, it can be addictive.

What I have cooked here is my home-made version of the Kolok Mee. Not the making of the noodles but rather, the mixture of sauces which came up with the Kolok Mee taste. It can be a tad saltish to some, so you might want to go easy on the amount of seasoning used here. As for the noodles, I am using dried instant noodles bought from Sitiawan, made by the Foo Chow community. The texture (which is a bit like pasta, but stiffer) is quite suitable for this seasoning…almost like Kampua Noodles. Wantan noodles are also suitable, especially the curly stringy type. Yellow noodles are not suitable. As I don’t have char siew available, I have decided to just have minced pork only for the topping. Try this recipe if you can and adjust the measurements according to your preference.

This is my recipe for Kolok Mee (serves 3 portions)

Ingredients

3 pieces of instant noodles

100 grammes of minced pork

1/2 bulb of garlic (finely chopped)

spring onions for garnishing (chopped finely)

6 tablespoons of palm oil

Seasoning (for 3 servings)

3 teaspoons of fish sauce

1/3 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of light soya sauce

1/3 teaspoon of monosodium glutamate

a couple of dashes of white pepper powder

Marinade (for minced pork)

2 teaspoons of fish sauce

1 teaspoon of light soya sauce

a couple of dashes of white pepper powder

1 teaspoon of corn flour / potato flour

Method

Marinade minced pork for at least 1 hour.

Bring a pot of water to boil. Add instant noodles and cook till almost done. Remove noodles from pot using a net or colander and run it through cold or tap water. Return noodles to boiling water to heat it up again and thereafter, drain the noodles after 30 seconds. Set aside.

Scoop up oil into a bowl leaving about 2 tablespoons of oil remaining in the wok. Increase heat to high and stir fry minced pork till completely cooked (about 2 minutes). Sprinkle some water whilst stir frying to prevent burning. The minced pork should be just moist after cooking and not soaking in gravy. Remove cooked minced pork and set aside.

In a large bowl, add all the seasoning and stir well. Add cooked instant noodles and stir till evenly coated by the seasoning. Separate the noodles onto three serving plates. Add some cooked minced pork and garnish with fried garlic and spring onions.